Penick's Take
PENICK: Dan Henderson vs. Fedor Emelianenko a perfect fight option for Strikeforce
Mar 6, 2011 - 7:15:22 PM PENICK: Dan Henderson vs. Fedor Emelianenko a perfect fight option for Strikeforce

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

With Dan Henderson's second straight knockout win in Strikeforce, the organization has a fight on their hands that could be massive: Henderson vs. Fedor Emelianenko.

The idea was presented today by Mike Chiappetta at MMAFighting, who makes a good case for the fight. Fedor, while he's always fought at heavyweight, isn't much larger than Henderson's opponent from last night in Feijao, who walks around at 225 lbs. by fight time. Henderson's also a huge name with Pride connections that would be an easy sell for Strikeforce.

Henderson is open for the fight, and in fact has stated on multiple times his desire for a bout against "The Last Emperor." With Fedor coming off of two straight losses in the heavyweight division, and Strikeforce flirting with the idea of tossing him back in the heavyweight, this fight is more appealing than some in the heavyweight division could be.

Granted, a rematch with Fabricio Werdum could be big for them if Overeem defeats Werdum in June, but with Fedor losing again since that fight, and Werdum coming into that fight off a loss, it would certainly lose a lot of its luster. Besides, Henderson, while he may not have drawn massive interest in his last several fights, remains an immensely popular fighter, especially with crowds at the arena live. The response he received in Columbus was massive, and showed that knocking out Michael Bisping gains you some fans for life.

But back to this fight itself, Henderson has fought as a heavyweight before. In Japan, he split a pair of fights with one of Fedor's old foes in Antonio Minotauro Nogueira. But, this fight would probably be contested at either a catchweight or at light heavyweight.

Fans and pundits alike have long called for Fedor to drop to the light heavyweight division, and while that's not all that likely, a catchweight of 215 or 220 lbs. wouldn't be out of the question. And Henderson's title doesn't need to be a factor in this fight. He does have some highly interesting fights in the 205 lb. division, but as far as interest and ratings and all of that go, a bout with Fedor would draw much more than a bout with Gegard Mousasi or Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal down the line.

This is an excellent fight. Fedor would have a chance to pick up a win for the first time since November of 2009 - and it would be against the biggest name he's fought since Andrei Arlsovski - and Henderson would have a chance to put the nail in the coffin of Fedor's lengthy and legendary career. Kudos to Chiappetta for tossing this fight out there, and I'm completely on board for putting this together next.